The preparation of 3-cyano-2-morpholino-5-(pyrid-4-yl)-pyridine, by reacting 3-cyano-2-chloro-5-(pyrid-4-yl)-pyridine with excess morpholine and recrystallizing the resulting crude product from ethanol is known from East German patent No. 236,729, Example 7; and European patent No. 200,024 A. The recrystallized product is obtained as thin, feltlike needles, which have only a low bulk density of 150 g/l and create considerable difficulties during pharmaceutical processing.